My new phone rang at ten o’clock, but it wasn’t Victor. I’d left that son of a bitch a message that we needed his help, but he was sure taking his time getting in touch.
We were at Colin’s place in Lodo. Amanda and Colin were going through books and journals searching for anything they could find about real werewolves. Colin lived in a nice loft, furnished with antiques and enough books to fill a branch library. I stepped onto the balcony to take the phone call.
“That was fast, Mr. Shinobi,” I said without any greeting.
“Time is of the essence. We have through tomorrow night, and if we haven’t achieved our goal, Mr. Oshira will see to it that we don’t.”
“So you know Nori,” I said.
“You’re fishing for information I won’t provide. Cho Himura and your friend Jennifer are home and currently under the watchful eyes of my men.”
“And if you do anything to either of them—”
“You’ll kill us all. Yes, we received that message loud and clear, and her fate remains in your hands. Now to the business at hand. Nori Oshira will kill Ichiro Himura tomorrow unless he succeeds in his first mission or we succeed in ours.”
“What makes you think he hasn’t already killed him?”
“Nori talks big about killing Ichiro, but he doesn’t actually want to do it. He’ll do what he can to keep Ichiro alive for as long as possible.”
“But if he sees you coming, all bets are off?”
“You’re very astute. Were our positions reversed, I might do the same as Nori. It’s rare for any good to come from killing a man.”
“Or a woman,” I said.
“Or a woman,” he agreed.
“Keep that in mind when you think of Wakumi.” I gazed at the lights of Denver. “What do you have for me?”
“Nori’s cellphone number.”
“Have you talked to him?”
“I would prefer to avoid any contact with Nori and his samurai team.”
“So you ninja are afraid of a few samurai?”
“I would happily face a samurai, but I would prefer not to engage with Nori and his team at this time. I’ll leave that to you. Go get Ichiro. Keep the phone with you and call me when you have him. We’ll happily come pick him up. I’m texting Nori’s number to you now.”
The phone buzzed as the text arrived.
“Got it,” I said. “Listen—”
But he disconnected.
“Bastard,” I said. I leaned against the railing and watched a group of twenty-somethings exit a bar. They were laughing, the men hanging on their women. All of them looked happy. I watched until they reached the corner and moved out of sight behind another building.
I went back into the apartment. Amanda sat in a nice leather chair, lost in a journal, and Colin stood in front of a wall-to-wall bookshelf running his finger along the spines of the old hardcovers that lined the shelves.
“Either of you know any hackers?” I asked.
***
By one in the morning, a hacker friend of Amanda’s had hooked us up with an app to track Nori’s cell, which turned on the GPS so it could be tracked to a precise location. I didn’t understand half the things he said, but that didn’t matter because the end result was that by 1:30, he gave me an address near downtown Denver.
While he was working on getting the GPS information on Nori’s phone, Victor finally got in touch via text. I texted him Colin’s address and he told me to meet him on the roof of Colin’s building.
Five minutes later, I stood on the roof staring at Union Station. Victor stepped out of a shadow behind me.
“Don’t kill me,” he said. “I’m here.”
“I heard you step through,” I said as I turned to face him.
He gave me a smile. “I tried to make enough noise to alert you to my presence.”
“I need your help,” I said.
“And I volunteered, so I am at your service, my dear.”
“There’s a little girl in a house, and ninja are watching from various locations. I need you to get her out of there. I wouldn’t object if you got my friend Jennifer out, too, but I need to know that Cho is safe.”
“I’ll save them both for you, and the ninja will never know it happened. Just give me the address.”
I hesitated.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Gift horse, mouth,” I said. “I just need to accept this.”
“But you want to know why I’m volunteering.”
“I don’t trust altruism,” I said.
He moved to the edge of the building and gazed at Union Station. Buses and light rail trains moved in and out as people rode to various destinations.
“The first time I came to Denver was in 1894. That was the year Union Station burned down. It had been operating for maybe three years. They rebuilt it, of course, but that took time.”
“What’s your point?”
“Always direct with you,” he said. “You don’t really trust me, and while you don’t know why, you have good reason to doubt me as I will always do things that are in my own best interest.”
“Not helping your case, Victor.”
He laughed. “I’m trying to rebuild something you don’t even know is on fire yet. You smell the smoke, though.”
I didn’t like where he was going, but he was my best shot at getting Cho out from under the watchful eyes of a group of ninja. “Maybe we should continue this conversation when Cho is safe. 468 South Clarkson is the address.”
“You need me to get her out, so this is the best time for me to come clean. Cho is what you might call my ‘Get out of Hell free’ card. Keep your sword in its scabbard. I have some things I must tell you now. If I tell you after I save her, you’ll likely try to take my head.”
The wind kicked up and I brushed my hair behind my ear so I could keep my eyes on him. “What did you do, Victor?”
“I spent some time with Jonathan Shade, and I dare say he is not one of my fans. Your time-twin isn’t particularly fond of me either.”
My heart nearly stopped. “You saw them? Where?”
“Last I saw them, they were in Tajikistan.”
“Where is that?”
“It shares a border with Afghanistan, but that doesn’t matter. They have a big battle coming, and I have a feeling they’re going to try to recruit you. I won’t be helping them, of course, nor would they want my help.”
“What did you do?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes it does. Did you hurt them?”
“Rest assured that they are quite all right. I made a play that was in my own self-interest, as is my wont, and … well, it backfired.”
“You tried to get them killed.”
“I tried to set things right. For me.” He held up a hand to stop me from interrupting. “Let me finish. It was selfish, and I know you’re going to hear all about it. I’d prefer you heard at least part of it from me. What matters is that I don’t want to leave Denver anytime soon, and I don’t want you to kill me. I’m hoping I won’t have to kill you either. So I’m offering my assistance now so we can start to rebuild what I hope could be some semblance of trust, if not even friendship. And I know I’d better act fast because they’re bound to be calling you any day now.”
“Yeah, yeah. Get to the point.”
“For what it’s worth, I betrayed them. I did not betray you. I see you and the other Kelly Chan as completely different people. And I trust you’re the more reasonable.”
“That’s quite a dance you’re doing, Victor.”
“I’m trying to get ahead of this.”
“They said they were going to call me?”
He shook his head. “They’re going up against something they can’t handle alone. They’re going to have to call you.”
I stared at him for a time then looked at the buses leaving Union Station. “If you’d gotten them killed, would you have ever told me?”
“Hell no,” he said and laughed. “Do I look like a complete idiot?”
“If you have to ask…”
“I’ll go get Cho for you now.”
“When I find out where Wakumi is being held, can you save her too?”
He smiled. “I could, but I know how you feel about Jonathan Shade.”
“My Jonathan is dead.”
“And there’s a live one on the other side of the world.”
“Whom I’ve never met.”
“Your loyalty will still be to him, and the only reason you haven’t attacked me is because you currently need my help. If I understand the situation, Wakumi is the one in real danger here. Would you like me to go get her for you?”
“I don’t know where she is.”
“But you can find out with a little effort.”
“I suspect I can.”
“You know where this Cho girl is right now, but she’s not really in much danger. You could go get her yourself. A few ninja won’t bother you.”
“I need them both to be safe,” I said. “If I move Cho right now, they’ll try to kill her and Jennifer, and they’ll likely kill Wakumi because they’ll know I’m not playing ball.”
“If they’ve met you, they know you’re not playing ball, Kelly. One thing you lack is a poker face. You have two modes: save or kill, and they know which way your sword is pointed.”
“Help me save them both,” I said.
“I can tell from the tone of your voice that the little girl is important to you.”
“She is.”
“I’ll bring her to you. If I can, I’ll bring your friend Jennifer as well. We can discuss Wakumi when I get back.”
“All right,” I said, feeling better about things. “Why did you betray my friends?”
“Hey, to be clear, you’ve never met this Jonathan, so he’s not really your friend. To be honest, he’s something of an asshole, and I don’t see why the other version of you puts up with him.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
He sighed and looked into my eyes. “I lost someone a long time ago. Someone I loved.” Emotions played across his face for a moment, but he grabbed control of them. “I thought I could get her back, so I had to try.”
He stared at me for a moment then stepped back. “Thank you,” he said.
“For?”
“Not killing me.”
“Like you said, I still need you to save Cho.”
He gave me a sad smile and stepped away into shadow.
Thirty seconds later, he stepped out of the shadow with two passengers: Jennifer and Cho.
“Hope you two enjoyed the ride,” Victor said. He glanced at me. “I’ll be in touch.”
He disappeared into the shadow before I could say a word.
Cho smiled and ran to me. “Kelly!”
Jennifer stood wide-eyed on the roof and moved shakily as though she might tip over.
I bent and embraced Cho. “You okay?” I asked.
“That nice man gave us a ride.”
“He’s not that nice,” I said. “But I’m sure glad you’re here.”
“Um,” Jennifer said. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
“Did the ninja in the house see you?”
“I didn’t see any ninja in the house.”
Maybe Shinobi had been bluffing.
Either way, tension I hadn’t realized was present eased from my shoulders. The ninja could watch Jennifer’s house all they wanted now.